Using a dremel tool.

[NYRanger]

Please resist the temptation to use a high speed rotary tool in your gun's receiver.

[Gunplummer]

^^^^

Thank you for the advice. The next time I cut/weld a receiver to shorten or lengthen it, I will use a hammer and chisel to rough down the weld.

[g.willikers]

After reading this thread, I've decided to collect up all my Dremels,
Power air tools,
Impact wrenches,
Drills,
Welding gear,
Soldering tools,
Plus everything else that could even possibly cause trouble,
And donate them all to the local technical school.
You know, just to remove all forms of temptation.
Sure I will.
To repeat,
Poor Craftsmen Blame Their Tools.

[Bill DeShivs]

Why take things to extreme?
As most have said, Dremels are very useful tools in competent hands.
Unfortunately, most people are incompetent in their use.
Dremels are marketed as an "all-in-one" tool-and they aren't.

[DT Guy]

I think this is (as I stated earlier) similar to the gun control arguments sometimes encountered.

Is it true that untrained/careless people can damage a firearm with a Dremel? Sure it is.


It is true that a Dremel is easy to purchase without a background check and waiting period? Yes it is.

Does that mean that a careful or trained person can't use a Dremel appropriately to improve a firearm? No; it just means that dumb people can screw anything up with anything.




Larry

[hooligan1]

Look, if you cant use a Dremel tool well enough to do minor clean up and buff, then you probably need a Smith's phone number.
I have never been afraid to chuck a bit in my Dremel and go to town, but Im an "outside the box" kind of tinkerer.
Im no gunsmith, however I do a lot of gunwork.
I lack machinist skills and cannot recollect numbers for more than 24 hours,( 2 heatstrokes) but I get a vision, and whip out the Dremel and make my dang self happy.

[arquebus357]

Just to keep this thread going. I have a use for rotary tools that is a bit unusual. If I need to drill a hole in metal be it a gun or something else, I do not have much luck using a punch for creating a drill guide dimple. I mount one of the very small metal bur bits and hog out a small divot in the metal for a drill bit guide. I can do this with greater precision than using a punch and hammer. This method has served me well over the years.

Oh yeah, I don't have a drill press.

[5whiskey]

Just to keep this thread going. I have a use for rotary tools that is a bit unusual. If I need to drill a hole in metal be it a gun or something else, I do not have much luck using a punch for creating a drill guide dimple.

Unrelated to Dremels, my wife gave this to me as a gift last year. I was not thrilled with it at first, until I used them a couple times. Very handy and more precise than a normal punch/hammer or any rotary tool could hope to be. For instance, I used it to divot a set of standard sights so I could make dot sights. It turned out quite well... I would never try that with normal punches or a rotary tool.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/5pc-Woodw...&wl13=&veh=sem

Had to dust off the evil rotary tool in obvious need of regulation this weekend as I'm making a set of grips for my Ruger Security Six. I don't have a drum sander, just a belt/disc, so some of the curves I have to take the Dremel to. It does an exceptional job and beats trying to whittle and hand sand Bubinga wood (for perspective, it is more than twice as hard as Walnut and a bit harder than Hickory). That would take FOR EVER! Ok, off to go renew my rotary tool registration and license

[lefteye]

I've had and used a Dremel tool for years, but I am not a surgeon, a dentist or even a gunsmith. My Dremel is locked up if I have a gun out of my safe.

[Tinbucket]

I'm a victim of the evil assault Dremels. Through the finger through the nail.
I used one to build a model railroad that would make a watchmaker proud.
Tiny holes through one inch plywood and wired through that soldered to bottom of rail.
I thought it a dandy idea to drill through plywood of reloading bench for a screw. It headed for my finger hiding on the underside.
the hammer spur on a Ruger stainless looks like it got out of the factory before finishing. Thinking of trying to take the mold mark or parting line off and maybe using a good file to give a crosshatch like old Colt Python.
Use the Dremel or not?

[arquebus357]

^^^^^^

NOT !

[Old Stony]

Tinbucket......go for it ! I have done crosshatching and decorating for years on the spines of knives and done all kinds of stuff like that using a Dremel. One thing that has made it a lot more successful for me is using one of the magnifying headbands. Get lots of light on your project and using the magnifier, you can get down close to your work and see with much more precision as you work. Using a little cratex wheel on your Dremel, you should be able to remove a parting line with no problem, but you might have to do a little polishing to match up the finish around that area afterward. Do a little playing with a narrow cutting wheel on your Dremel, using some scrap material, and you'll be surprised what you can do.

[Ricklin]

I've been in the dental Eq. biz my entire career. Dremels are for posers.

An electric dental drill is just flat amazing. Using the small dental burs you can get two hundred thousand RPM along with electronic controls that maintain that RPM under a load. These drills use some of the most advanced micro motors in the world, and they can cost around 3,500 bucks.

Air powered dental drills have higher RPM yet. Up to one half million RPM. The air powered drills (called a handpiece in the profession) are all RPM and no real torque.

I remember our tool and die makers needing to modify a mold. I loaned them a dental drill and a few carbide cutting tools (burs) I had a hard time getting it back from them....The tool saved the day for us as we were able to modify an existing mold, rather than make a new one.

Can't beat dental tools for really fine work.

[AzShooter]

There is nothing you can do with a dremel that you can't do better with a stone and patience. Yes it will take longer but it will work. When I started doing my own gunsmithing I ruined a few hammers. triggers etc with the dremel.

Now, for cutting off the trigger spur you can use this tool. But you'd be better off buying one from a company like Apex Tactical.

[Gunplummer]

I could not believe this was still going, so I popped it up. You can do anything with a stone that you can do with a dremel? After looking through this thread, I am absolutely sure who should not be using one.

[dahermit]

Now, for cutting off the trigger spur you can use this tool. But you'd be better off buying one from a company like Apex Tactical.

What is a "trigger spur"? Did you mean, "hammer spur"?

[Old Stony]

I agree, it would take a little patience to cut off a hammer? spur with a stone. But to each his own....I've been using a Dremel for at least 50 years, and I don't think I'll give it up just yet.

[745SW]

I believe many of us Dremel users have always had a desire for the mechanical. As little tykes we learned by doing. We broke stuff.

I was using my teeth and nails long before I knew what tools were.

[arquebus357]

^^^^^^

Hahahaha. When I was a kid we had Erector-Sets. I(f you gave one of these to today's kids they would probably stuff the little nuts and bolts up their nose. My school store sold school supplies plus candy, cap guns, water guns, magic tricks,and for young gamblers, gumball machines and punch boards. That was Chicago south side though.

[5whiskey]

There is nothing you can do with a dremel that you can't do better with a stone and patience.

??? Shaping wood and cutting metal come to mind. Drilling a hole (though best done by a drill press or at least a dedicated hand drill, but a Dremel will certainly do this better than a stone). Oh, using a rotozip bit and cutting gangbox holes in sheetrock. I'm sure I'm missing a few dozen tasks, but this is what comes to mind in 30 seconds or so.

The problem is defining what tool is most appropriate for the task at hand. Trigger sear work? Stone. Rough shaping big parts? Bench/belt grinder. Rough shaping small parts? Probably a Dremel if a .1" of metal needs to be removed for final shape, yet the part is too small to hold onto a belt or bench grinder. Final shaping of small metal parts? The appropriate size and shape of file. A Dremel is a useful tool. Too many are dying to polish a feed ramp with one, when it really doesn't need doing in the first place... but the other extreme is saying that a proper gunsmith will never use a Dremel. A "gunsmith" that is a parts changer probably will never use one. A gunsmith that can take a broken part in an old firearm and make a new one probably pulls a dremel out once in a while. CNC has changed this some, but you would be surprised how quickly you can shape a small metal part within a 2 or 3 thousands by hand with a grinder, dremel, and some files with good practice.

[keithdog]

Wow, I can't believe the thread I started is still going on this long and got this distorted. All this talk about using stones, grinding, drilling, high speed tool work, and so on. One would think I was using a Dremel tool to do major augmentation to a gun. All I was talking about was using the soft cotton buffing wheel used at a low speed setting to do a little polishing. No high speed flames afire work with multiple accessories. I'd leave that to a smithy.

[guncrank]

Yes I use a rotary tool
In fact I have a couple of 1/10 HP die shinker style grinders.

Bob Partain sure moved wood at Trinidad State Junior College when he taught 3rd year.
In fact I engrave with a high speed one.


As said before a poor craftsman blames the tool